Coolest watches at Baselworld 2013 (pictures)

Bellows power

The annual Baselworld watch fair, which opens to the public Thursday, is all about innovation and craftsmanship. Attracting more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world, it's a chance to see the latest technological advancements and fine design in horology.

Last year, boutique brand HYT launched the prizewinning H1, the first mechanical watch to use liquid to indicate the time. Its successor is the H2 pictured here, which also exposes its innards for all to see. The unusual bellows, arranged in a V shape, push a liquid through an external ring to indicate the hour; a minute hand jumps from position to position, and there's also a fluid temperature gauge.

The H2 is limited to 50 pieces, each around 90,000 Swiss francs ($95,150).

Photo by: HYT

Bones of time

Gazing at Devon's Tread 1 Exoskeleton is like looking into a time factory. The translucent, scratch-resistant polycarbonate window shows the moving belts and gears that power the steampunk-styled conveyor belt time display.

Photo by: Devon

Revved up

Chopard's L.U.C Engine One H Watch takes its masculine design cues from racing cars. Set in a titanium case, the dial features a tourbillon movement with variable intertia balance wheel on the left and a power reserve gauge on the right, both set amid the hands.

Photo by: Chopard

Moonstruck

The Arnold & Son HM Perpetual Moon watch is very simply designed, but has a relatively large moon phase display with the three-dimensional, sculpted moon measuring some 11.2 mm. The moon phase is billed as being so accurate it only needs to be adjusted every 122 years.

Photo by: Arnold & Son

The Triad

Speake-Marin's Triad is a nod to musical notes, the three elements of a basic chord. Indeed, the hour and minute hands are repeated three times, interlocking in an intricate mesh of gears. It has an 18-karat gold bezel, 35 jewels, and 120 hours of power reserve.

Photo by: Speake-Marin

Luxury weather forecaster

Housed in an opulent 18-karat gold case, the Genie 01 from Breva sports an anaerobic barometer, altimeter, and power reserve indicator along with its mechanical movement. The weather in the coming days in forecast in a dial on the right side of the face.

Photo by: Breva

1,000-hour power reserve

Don't worry about forgetting to wind your mechanical movement with the Rebellion T-1000 Gotham. This chunky 1980s-styled brick set in titanium housing has a power reserve of 1,000 hours. It can go more than a month without a windup. It's limited to 25 pieces.

Photo by: Rebellion

Wrapped in a mystery

Maurice Lacroix's Masterpiece Seconde Mysterieuse (Mysterious Seconds), shown here in black PVD steel, is a bit of a magic trick. While the hour and minute are shown in a dial on the upper right of the face, the second hand has its own display. The blue second had rotates on its own axis and appears to float in the air, hence the mystery.

Photo by: Maurice Lacroix

Liquid wonder

The Ressence Type 3 doesn't have a complex movement, but it has looks. The fluorescent discs displaying seconds, minutes, hours, and days rotate in a pool of clear synthetic oil that's capped by a sapphire crystal. It winds automatically so there's no crown. It's priced around $34,000.

Photo by: Ressence

Histoire de Tourbillon

Billed as "one of the most highly refined mechanical timekeepers ever made," the Histoire de Tourbillon 4 from Harry Winston is so exclusive that only 20 are being made.

It features a jaw-dropping tri-axial tourbillon with an internal carriage rotating cycle of 45 seconds, an intermediate carriage rotating cycle of 75 seconds, and an external carriage rotating cycle of 300 seconds." It also has 345 movement parts. Check out the video here.

Photo by: Harry Winston

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